Televisions

Blu-ray has had a bumper year. Since the format beat HD-DVD to become the world’s HD format of choice back in early 2008, there’s been no stopping the Blu-ray success story.

The price of entry-level players has dropped significantly – to the point where you can easily pick up a big-name player for 100 pounds in the January sales. At the same time, the specifications have improved dramatically. We’ve put together a list of the players that scored highest in our reviews during 2009.

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1. Panasonic DMP-BD 80

Score: 9.1

The winning player for the year 2009 is the Panasonic DMP-BD 80. We loved this player’s all-round capabilities, including excellent 24p playback from Blu-ray Discs, as well as competent DVD playback – two skills once rarely combined in BD players. Decoders for all HD audio formats are also on board, as is YouTube access – an attractive package indeed! Currently selling for about 215 GBP.

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2. Pioneer BDP-320

Score: 8.9

Picture quality impresses again with both Blu-rays and DVDs. Multimedia, however, is less spectacular than on the above Panasonic: The Ethernet socket only supports BD-Live (and not YouTube access), for example, and you can only play back music, photos, and videos from a disc – the USB socket only works for storing downloaded BD-Live content. Impatient users beware: The BDP-320 exhibits some shockingly slow disc-loading times. Currently selling for about 300 GBP.

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3. Samsung BD-P 3600

Score: 8.8

Yet again, both DVDs and Blu-rays play back excellently on this Samsung – of course, this is why these players all made it into the top five. Discs load quicker than with the Pioneer, and the multimedia functions include network playback from a PC, albeit with some awkward operation. The Samsung is also cheaper than the Pioneer at about 230 GBP.

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4. Samsung BD-P 1600

Score: 8.7

Blu-ray and DVD playback are as excellent as ever on this cheaper Samsung, but the BD-P 1600 cuts down on multimedia: There’s no network streaming, for example, and internet access is limited to downloading BD-Live content. You can at least still play back a variety of multimedia files via USB or from a disc. Currently selling for about 145 GBP.

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5. Panasonic DMP-BD 60

Score: 8.7

Surprise, surprise: This Panasonic will also give you excellent Blu-ray and DVD playback. Multimedia functionality is comprehensive – Panasonic’s “Viera Cast” function even gives users something resembling internet access via an online portal, and the network connection also permits BD-Live downloads. On the down side, there’s no network playback. Currently selling for about 170 GBP.

Summary

As you can see, all of the top five players offer excellent playback of both Blu-rays and DVDs. If you’re unsure which one to buy, therefore, you’ll have to look to other distinguishing features. Multimedia playback varies significantly – the Samsung BD-P 3600 offers network playback, but costs about 80 GBP more than the Samsung BD-P 1600. It’s all a question of what you value most. You can check out reviews of other BD players in our player reviews section.

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